What do gun proponents care about?

Just after a national tragedy like the Orlando Club shooting, it becomes very clear what people value. Their reactions all boil down to “what do they care about?” If after a mass shooting where 49 people were killed and over 50 others were injured, the first reaction is, “Well, no one better take the guns away,” it is clear that whatever that person cares about, it’s not people, it’s not safety, it’s not even the rights or freedom of all people. None of those are available to the dead.

In the best case scenario, it’s about ideals. Someone who truly believes that guns are a right, and that person is willing to stand up for those beliefs. Chances are that this person has never actually had anyone slaughtered in a mass killing, and chances are that the person lives in fear of everyone and everything. A gun grants him or her security that he or she otherwise couldn’t feel. The best of these idealists would see the need for gun regulation. After all, they are law abiding citizens and they would be able to get their guns.

The more fanatical would be the NRA – no regulations, let everyone have a gun. “Have everyone shoot each other and let God sort out the dead.” “From my cold, dead hands.” Of course their thoughts continue to focus on the death of others and not on the facts of gun ownership – if you lock it up, you won’t have access to it when you need it. If you don’t, you are more likely to be shot either through your own actions (attempted or realized suicide), a loved one’s actions (attempted, realized homicide, as part of an escalation of an argument or through accident – 23 toddlers shot people during the first 6 months of 2016) or because as the threat escalates so do the actions on both sides. An armed robber might not kill someone in the house, but he or she might pull the trigger when faced down with a weapon.At least the people who are educated and support their right to keep and bear arms, even if they forget about the well-regulated militia, can be honored. They are fighting to keep a part of history alive, even in the face that the same document counted slaves as 3/5 of a person and banned alcohol in the early 1900s. More importantly, they are fighting for what they think is right, even if it means that thousands of people die every year.

More often, it’s money. This is especially true of politicians who lack the courage to face off against the NRA. You can use all of the facts that you want, but they refuse to budge. They simply deny what we have come to be as a society. The U.S. is no longer the Wild West, and there are no arms that the regular person can get his or her hands on that will successfully hold off a government interested in taking anything. The U.S. military only has to decide to step in, send a drone, and the objective will be wiped out in a simple missile launch controlled by a teen playing a video game in a remote location. There wouldn’t even be any warning. Instead of admitting that fact, the politicians cower behind an amendment that was written at a time when it took about a minute to load a gun.

Sometimes, it’s antiquated religion, the parts that have been redeemed by the Savior, that support the person’s world view instead of the view that his or her religion would have were it followed correctly. Christ came to redeem the law. Everyone who quotes an “eye for an eye” and admits to being Christian is missing the point. Jesus came to Earth to fulfill the law. He granted Christians a higher law that is both simpler and harder to follow. Instead of 10 commandments, Christians are given 2 – love God first; love one another as you would love yourselves. Christ reiterated this over and over. Love your neighbor as you love Me. Turn the other cheek. Even the example on the cross when He could have called down the Hosts of Heaven and smote His crucifiers, Christ chose instead to complete His sacrifice to save His siblings. Christ is the embodiment of a God who wants His children to be peaceful and to love others and accept them. The woman accused of adultery – Christ let her go free with only the admonishment to sin no more. He did not allow anyone to stone her. He did not curse the 9 lepers who did not return to thank Him for the healing he gave to 10 of them. The Old Testament and Leviticus in particular, while interesting and instructive in some ways, are no longer valid as far as the laws are concerned. The law has been fulfilled, and it is time that Christians start trying to live the higher law.​If you are a politician on the Hill and you are fighting against reasonable implementations of controls, like not selling guns to U.S. citizens who are known to have terrorist ties, whatever it is you care about, it is clear that it is not people. Until those in our government care more for people than the bottom line, antiquated, poorly understood religious beliefs and continuing to serve special interests over common sense, Americans will continue to die more than in any other developed country.